What is soulmate? Soulmate is a term coined to express the deep connection between two persons which is beyond the power of expression. A soulmate can be a partner, a friend, a student, a disciple or a devotee.
In a soulmate relation there is only pure unconditional love. And so I think that there can be no better example of a soulmate than the relation between a Guru and the disciple. Many Guru-disciple relationships are soulmate connections that can lead to higher spiritual paths and higher love.
Paramahansa Yogananda described the Guru-disciple relationship as a very personal and private spiritual bond. No love is so total as the love that happens between the Guru and the disciple. The love that happened between John and Jesus, the love that happened between Sariputta and Buddha — these are the real love stories, the highest pinnacles of love.
Buddha had officially no successor, but he had great disciples who loved him dearly. And from these great disciples, Sariputta was a gem of a person. It happened so that one day Sariputta, Buddha’s chief disciple, became enlightened. With tears in his eyes he came to Buddha and he said, “I was avoiding enlightenment, but you went on insisting. Now I am enlightened and my eyes are full of tears because I know you will send me away from you just to spread the fire. And I understand your compassion — that you are continuously aware of the many who can become Buddhas. Just a little support is needed. Those who have not gone far away from themselves can be called back very easily.”
Buddha said, “Then why are you crying?”
He said, “I am crying because I will not be able to touch your feet every day as I have been doing for these 20 years.”
Buddha said, “Do one thing. Keep a map with you and remember in what direction I am dwelling. Just bow down in that direction, touch the feet symbolically, touch the earth. Because after all this body is made of earth and one day it will go back to the earth. So touching the earth is not only touching my feet but touching the feet of all the Buddhas who have ever happened. They have all dissolved their bodies in the earth. So there is no need, and it does not look right that an enlightened person should weep and cry.”
Sariputta said, “I don’t care what people think. But the reality is that tears are coming, and according to your teaching I should be spontaneous and authentic. Even if you say don’t weep, I’m not going to listen. Tears are coming, what can I do? I cannot be a hypocrite, smiling though the eyes are full of tears.”
It is said that Sariputta, wherever he was, in the morning would look at the map to find exactly where Buddha was. And in that direction he would bow down and touch the feet of Buddha.
He came to have thousands of disciples of his own. And they said, “It does not look right. You need not do such a gesture. You are a Buddha yourself.”
He said, “It is true, I am a Buddha myself. But I would not have been a Buddha if I had not met Gautama the Buddha. It is the meeting with this man that triggered something in me, burned all that was false and brought all that was true in its pristine purity and clarity. I owe so much to this man that there is no way to pay him. All that I can do is touch his feet from miles away.”
Sariputta continued this to his very last breath. Before he died, he died before Gautama Buddha, the last thing he said to his disciples was, “Forgive me because you cannot see those invisible feet. Let me touch the feet of my master for the last time.” And he bowed down, tears flowing from his eyes, and he died in that posture. He did not get up again.
That is true humanity, humbleness, devotion, love and trust. And such qualities can only be found in a disciple — a devoted disciple who understood Gautama the Buddha more than Ananda.
Jai Shri Ganesha. Jai Guru.